Michael*

I swear, I could feel myself ageing during tonight's second half. After the lively and generally enjoyable group stages, the knockout games have failed to deliver much other than the drama of penalties and a couple of (admittedly brilliant) 'Panenkas'. All of a sudden, it feels like the tournament is starting to wind down a bit. Hopefully, tomorrow's game and Sunday's final will liven things up again and provide us with one or two slightly more memorable moments. The debate will almost certainly continue to rage on about whether or not Spain are boring, which in itself is getting rather boring, but if they were able beat Italy or Germany on Sunday you could make a strong case for them to go down as the greatest international side ever. Like the Spanish style or not, nobody (at least, nobody to my knowledge) has ever won three major tournaments on the spin. And on a slightly different note, Van Maarwijk has apparently resigned as Holland manager. Somewhat inevitable, I suppose - cue rousing round of indifference.

New video for 'National Anthem'. Someone rather likes Instagram, I see...

00's Olga Kurylenko 7 Natalia Vodianova 8 Xenia Tchoumitcheva Bianca Balti 12 Natasha Poly 10 Josie Maran Julie Ordon Doutzen Kroes

Mathilda Scarlett Kay Mata Hari Paulina

January 2010 by a hair's breadth.

April 2002

Alyssa Miller [1] Nicole Trunfio [6]

1-2. Scarlett Johansson 3-4. Natalie Portman 5-6. Emma Stone 7-8. Rachel McAdams 9-10. Olivia Wilde 11-12. Eva Mendes 13-14. Keira Knightley 15-16. Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Emmy Rossum [4] Zhang Ziyi [2]

^It's not been made altogether clear but yes, I suspect Phil meant to say 'xenophobic' - as if not playing in England could only ever be explained by some kind of latent flaw in Pirlo's character. I'd expect nothing less from the wazzock who once thought paying Jimmy Bullard £50,000 a week for four and a half years would be a sound investment. Incidentally, I may have spoken too soon when I said I'd found this year's Euro pundits slightly less annoying than usual. I thought Alan Shearer's suggestion that Mario Balotelli hasn't achieved anything in his career was pretty bad (alas, the 21-year-old Mario only has one Champions League, three Serie As, one Coppa Italia, one Premier League and one FA Cup to his name thus far. Oh, if only Roy Keane had been there), but a certain Mr Merson well and truly topped Big Al on Sky Sports News today, criticising England for not playing enough like Ireland.

Here's another one I rather like. Give it until the vocal comes in before dismissing it as a Buzzcocks cover. http://youtu.be/cpHN_V1sjUQ

^Not half bad. The voice could be an acquired taste but the rhythm section sounds pretty great.

Welcome to BZ!

Absolute corker from ex-Hull manager Phil Brown on Radio Five Live...

^Not since Andy Cole's overlooked classic 'Outstanding' have I heard such a lovely singing voice from a footballer.

Threads merged.

Great! How about a model wearing a silver watch?

For me, Germany are the team to beat. They've evolved again this year, and their sheer adaptability makes them favourites in my mind. Not only can they still counter attack at blazing speed, they can also outmaneuver you in wide areas or grind you into the dust with measured possession. Granted, the Greeks were probably the weakest team in the knockout stages, but I'm not sure we'd have seen the same levels of domination from Italy, France or Portugal. Perhaps more so from Italy, since they did it to England. Spain are no less technically flawless than before and they're still racking up enormous amounts of possession, but they don't seem to be attacking with as much purpose, creating as much space or picking teams apart like they used to. Of course, they've mostly played against lesser opposition so far and may simply be cruising at the moment, but against one of the heavyweights we should really find out what they're made of. Portugal will start as second favourites and rightfully so, but I think they'll fancy themselves a lot more now than they would have done in years gone by. Hopefully, for the sake of pure neutral enjoyment, they don't resort to the spoiling tactics they tried to employ against Germany in the opening group game. Looking forward to both games. Two days to go but the tennis should keep the withdrawal symptoms at bay.

It's the staff's job to diffuse situations with the potential to escalate. Like you said, excessive fandom is ridiculous and we don't expect everyone to like Kate. Heck, I don't even like Kate that much myself. So by all means express opinions, just be aware of the reality that others might see certain criticisms as provocation. All we ask is that members make the effort to keep things amicable around here.

It's always gut-wrenching to lose on penalties but in truth, it was something of an injustice that we even managed to hold Italy to a 0-0 draw. Sneaking through tonight would in all probability have meant humiliation against Germany and quite honestly, I wouldn't have wished the indignity or the inevitable media storm on Hodgson. The best four sides are through to the semi-finals, which can only be a good thing for the tournament.

Thread cleaned. Please guys, keep it on topic and keep it civil too.

Justice most definitely done. When Pirlo took command after the break, England were thoroughly dominated and it would have been a travesty of epic proportions had the Italians gone out on penalties.

Half-time and it's too close to call. I'm glad England haven't put too much stock in trying to rile Balotelli, Terry's penchant for random acts of thuggery means he's just as likely to get himself sent off instead. The Rooney of recent years is a nine out of ten or a four out of ten performer, at this point he looks closer to the latter.

How about this one? In the interest of full disclosure, it's Lily Donaldson under the shark's head...

SF1. Scarlett Johansson SF2. Charlize Theron 5-8. Emma Stone 5-8. Rachel McAdams 9-12. Amber Heard 9-12. Olivia Wilde 13-16. Keira Knightley 13-16. Mary Elizabeth Winstead